Costume Analysis: How I Decipher References

This will give insight into how I analyze a reference image and translate it into its components. I tend to work in layers. That is to say, I think about what do I put on first, then what goes over that. (Underwear, shirt, jacket) 

Divide and Conquer

I always start with "layer 0" for any "body mods" I'd have to make. This includes hair, skin tone, ears, horns, tails, body-shaping underwear, etc. 

Layer 1: This is often under armor or whatever will go on first. 

Layer 2: This layer usually contains the most iconic pieces of the costume. 

Additional layers continue with what I see. 

In some cases, it may make more sense to divide the costume into pieces based on body parts. I find this particularly true of full-suit armor. In this case whatever is my "armor layer" will have sub-sections based on a body part. 

There are times where it may make more sense to break the costume into pieces based on materials. Basically which parts are made of cloth and which are made of a hardened material. 

The analysis is a blend of these observations. The goal of the analysis for me is to have enough information to make decisions on patterns, materials, and approaches for the costume. First we want to understand the costume on its own terms. 

The Basic Process

These are things I figure out by just looking at the reference. With a cursory glance you can often tell how many layers there might be and what kind of body mods are required. 

But sometimes, looking isn't enough. Drawing it out or tracing helps with noticing shapes, details and form in a different way than just looking. The brain takes shortcuts when just looking...or mine does.  Once you've gathered what you can from the basic reference, it's time to gather more. 

As I look at more references I make doodle notes for myself. 

Notes from building Tali from Mass Effect

They don't have to "look good" just help me make plans and imagine solutions. You can also just write down descriptive notes to what you want to do. 

Reference Examples

The quality and availability of reference will affect the difficulty of the costume analysis. 

The most basic reference is a front view. It will have a lot of the important details and parts of the costume. In the example of Link below we can infer quite a bit. We can see the layers of the costume easily enough but some of the costume is obscured by the scarf. I can also sort of see some kind of design on the pauldrons and the hand-guard. This is a decent image to start with but it would help to know what's going on in the back. So we search for that. 

Ninja Link front View

Here's an images that shows the back and a bit of the side. I can see a bit more of how the chest armor works and how the bracers on the legs are attached. The pattern of the jumpsuit and color changes are different than what I would expect. But so much is obscured by that darn scarf! 

BackSide...

There are two solutions for this scarf obscuring issue. One is using our imagination to design how we think things look under the scarf. The other is to search for a reference without the scarf. This is where looking for official art may come in handy because they often do a breakdown of costume parts for production. Alternatively, there may be unofficial artwork people have made of the character without parts of the costume. Although it's hard to search specifically for that. Luckily, in our case, we can change things in game to see what things look like. 

This is uncomfortably form fitting.

Now I have a better idea of how that chest piece actually works with the pauldrons. And it looks like there a bit of a cincher. But what about the front? Anything different?

Very blurry. Yeesh. 

Ahem...it may not be the best quality but at the very least I can see that this jumpsuit is a turtle neck and there's a connection strap for the chest piece and pauldrons. But wait...what about the hand gaurds?

Oh...it was simple. 

I can see that the pattern is an oval pattern for the hand guard and I think I see a Sheikah Eye pattern on the pauldrons. (I'd need a slightly better reference image to confirm.) 

Usually, you can get the best information from "turnaround" models. Or at the very least a front and back.

Even without doing a self-drawn reference, these images give enough information to help with cosplay design decisions. Such as do I want to make the jumpsuit all one piece or use the belt to make shirt and pants? 

Now I'll get into how I interpret references into layers. With lots of examples!

Link - 2D/3D Fantasy Video Game

Link is a character of many iterations but a common design theme. Still analyzing based on references has its own challenges based on the version of Link you are planning to cosplay as. (Note: I did very quick searches for reference images. These images are not the BEST examples of references for analysis. But they mostly do the job.) 

Link to the Past (2D Sprite)

The "official" references are based on sprites and illustrations. (You could cheat and use the Breath of the Wild version...but let's pretend we don't have that for a moment.) 

Layer 0: We have pink hair in the sprite but dark blond in the illustration. Dark eyes/Blue eyes?. Fair skin. Elf ears.  

Layer 1: Long brown sleeves under his tunic. And knee boots. 

Layer 2: Green sleeveless tunic mid-thigh length. Green pointed hat with gold band, Belt

Props: Sword and Shield 

So those are the observable components of the costume based on layers. Now I have to determine how to achieve this in reality. 

For example, I'd look into different wigs and tutorials on how to style them. I'd have to find better images to confirm eye color.

For the tunic, after giving it a good look over, perhaps I'd make the sleeves separately from the tunic, but it may make more sense to make a green tunic with brown sleeves. This would be something I'd debate which would be best for my budget and skill level. Buy a brown shirt or sew a tunic with brown sleeves. 

Link's outfits are nearly always loosely based on a knight's tunic. But there are no direct historical correlation. (While yes there are tunics, it's clear those are more a basis for inspiration.)  

Ocarina of Time (3D Simple)

Now we have two kinds of references! 3D lets us get screenshots from any angle and there are illustrations. Since these 3D models are very blocky and don't have too much detail, it's helpful to have the illustrations to infer things like what kind of materials something is made of. Focusing on the "adult/teen" Link for this. 

Layer 0: VERY blond 90's split-bang hair, elf ears, 1 earring, fair skin, blue eyes

Layer 1: White turtleneck long sleeves, white leggings

Layer 2: Green short-sleeved tunic down to mid-thigh with collar, knee-high brown boots, fingerless brown gloves up to the elbow, Green pointed hat

Layer 3: Belt (bandolier according to the illustration), gauntlets/bracers

Props: Sword, Shield, Blue Ocarina, (any of the weapons/items)

Since the 3D models only have very flat textures (like everything is painted on cardboard), the clothing does not behave like normal clothes. The illustrations give better examples of how the clothing hangs and behaves. What I mean by this is you'll notice that in the illustration, Link's tunic hangs loosely while the leggings are tight. (Too tight.) 

Twilight Princess (3D realistic)

In this game, the 3D is more sophisticated. The textures have normal maps and you can infer more about the materials from in-game screenshots. There are illustrations and turnarounds available too, but what you get in the game is pretty good for reference. 

Layer 0: Some dirty, filthy blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin, earrings, elf ears

Layer 1: Natural color turtleneck and leggings

Layer 2: Chainmail short sleeve shirt mid-thigh, Knee-high boots, fingerless gloves up to the elbow

Layer 3: Green short-sleeved tunic shorter than the chainmail, green pointed hat

Layer 4:  Leather bracers, belt with bandolier and pouch

Props: Sword, Shield

In this particular version, we can see the make of the materials! Natural fibers, metal, and big stitches make this reminiscent of knightly garb. Now the chainmail shirt may be a challenge but I may determine that since only the skirt and sleeve edges show it then I won't make the entire shirt. 

Breath of the Wild (3D stylized)

I know this is technically from Smash. 

Again you can get good references from the 3D models as well as illustrations. The clothes definitely start to behave similarly to real-life materials so we get a sense of what things are made of. 

Layer 0: Brighter dark blond hair, blue eyes, elf ears, earring, fair skin

Layer 1: White leggings, white long sleeve undershirt (with designs on the neck opening)

Layer 2: Blue short-sleeved tunic down to mid-thigh with design around the collar and hem lines, fingerless gloves with colorful design cloth bracers, brown knee-high boots

Layer 3: One leather bracer, series of belts, and bandolier

Props: Shekiah Slate, Master Sword, Shield, (or any of the many weapons/items)

This Link is a departure from the traditional green tunic and pointy elf hat motif, but it still keeps the knight tunic and leggings. The 3D models are detailed enough to get pretty much all the info. (I just did a cursory search for this example. Thus using Smash and not in-game screens. Still. In-game is highly detailed.)  

Mizuki - Modern Fantasy 2D animation 

So Link is set in a fantasy setting with very loose relations to knightly garb. Mizuki is from a modern fantasy anime with a specific style of garb based exactly on a historical reference. 

Showing his formal and informal versions. The one in the middle shows his foot.

Layer 0: White hair, fair skin, green eyes, white eyelashes, maybe tiny fangs. 

Layer 1: Pale Yellow Kimono with rust juban (under-robe) and white tabi socks

Layer 2: Green Hakama Pants and flat zori with rust-colored straps

Optional Layer 3: Green Kataginu (coat...also this one has a white juban. It's the outfit he first appears in)

Actually, these reference images are enough to get a really good analysis! But it's also great to know these are clothes that people wear nowadays. My references can also come from a real-life reference of a person wearing a kimono with hakama. (Of course, learning what things are called helps with the search.) Really in this case we're lucky the layers are documented in tutorials on how to wear a kimono or make one. All we need the references for is color and layer 0 stuff. 

Prince Lotor - Sci-fi 2D animation

The challenge with 2D is working from a drawing, which can be inconsistent frame to frame or scene to scene. And let's not get started on how outrageously impossible designs can be. And in many cases, Sci-fi outfits don't have historical counterparts. 

First, let's get a reference or redraw one. I did this sketch for my Prince Lotor reference. 

Show reference

My sketch/redraw

Off the bat, the layers are not obvious, but neither is it really a good idea to go just by body part. This is one where I can combine all my division methods to break down the costume. 

Layer 0: These include the body mods (skin, ears, hair) and underpinnings to get my body into the right shape (compression shirt, shoulder pads)

Layer 1: Then it appears that there's under armor or a jumpsuit. However, in the references, there are some confusing aspects to the jumpsuit  namely color changes and markings as well as the confusing addition of a tailcoat. 

An important part of the deconstruction process is to imagine what the underthings look like without having a correct answer. Unlike the example of Mizuki where we have a historical reference, Lotor is completely fantasy. And being a 2D animation, it's 100% art that has no obligation to adhere to reality or make sense. But using my imagination, the above drawing is how I determined what the jumpsuit would appear without the armor. 

Layer 2: After that, we have the armor layer or parts made from inflexible material. 

For armor, I can't help but think in terms of body parts. So approaching each bit of armor that way helped me understand the shape and how it works in relation to the body part it protects. 

This particular analysis started with my layer method but then delved into material and body part groupings. 

Armorer - Live Action Space Fantasy

Now a unique challenge comes from live-action costumes. Because the costume already exists in reality. (Mostly...some may have CGI elements.) The references come from photographs that have the fabric or material behaving in a certain way. This helps determine what kind of material/fabric it's made of. (Also usually you can look up how this costume was constructed!)

Layer 0: No body mods. So nothing for this layer! 

Layer 1: loose pants and long sleeve shirt (likely cotton blend)

Layer 2: Short sleeved grey t-shirt, hard toe-boots, gloves

Layer 3: Metal chest plate with shoulder pads, leather apron/skirt, brown suede boot spats, quilted cotton gauntlets/bracers, Helmet

Layer 4: Mohair-Shag mantle, Leather belt

Props: hammer and tongs, belt tools

In this analysis because it's a photo I can kind of tell what the fabric is. (I may not know the name of the fabric exactly but I can compare this photo to other articles of clothing that look similar and figure it out.) There's also the benefit of community builds and franchise related costumers that have better insight into how the costumes were made for the show/film. That can be a big benefit to cosplaying a live-action show. 

Wrapping up

There's not a step-by-step process per se for analyzing a costume. It does take practice. Often times during analysis, I'm also researching. Looking at references makes me ask questions about what something is made of or how do I make this work in real life? I search for additional references and resources to help me answer my questions. 

The goal of analysis is to help understand how the costume is "supposed" to work and act as a resource for figuring out how to realize it.